Volume 6, Plate XX / Ornithology (Birds)

Common Ptarmigans (Young)

Lagopus mutus

Lagopus mutus, delicately marked in summer and snowy white in winter, is a native of both Europe and America, confined to the most alpine districts and in Britain chiefly the high mountains of central Scotland and the Hebrides. It inhabits barren rocky boulder fields where its mottled tints harmonize with the grey rocks, the pairs and broods tame and uttering a low wild call, then dropping silently off a ledge in noiseless wheeling flight, the nest hidden among stones.